By Goal Australia

The former Leeds and Liverpool star believes the recent major exhibition games in Australia will prompt other European giants to make the trip during their off-season programs

Harry Kewell expects to see more big clubs touring Australia following the successful visits of Manchester United and Liverpool, and has tipped Spanish and Italian clubs to follow suit.

United defeated an A-League All Stars XI at a packed ANZ Stadium in Sydney on July 20, before Liverpool overcame Melbourne Victory in front of 95,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground four days later.

They were by far the biggest teams to visit Australia in years, and the success of the exhibition games leads Kewell to believe more heavyweight outfits will be heading down under in the near future.

"To see what happened [with] Manchester United and Liverpool, it didn't surprise [me]," he told SEN.

"They're two of the greatest clubs in the world and I think it's great because it's actually opened the door now and I think other Premiership clubs, even maybe Spanish clubs and Italian clubs, may be looking at this and thinking, 'well, this is only a pre-season game but we can get 95,000 people, we want a bit of this'.

"So I think you're going to see a lot more teams now."

Kewell believes the level of interest shown in the two friendly games is an indication of the continued rise of football in Australia.

"I can feel the wave," he said.

"I mean, I think if you look at the stats, from (ages) 10-14 it's the most played sport in Australia, football. You know, all kids want to do it so there is a massive following for football," he said.

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